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NOVEMBER 11
Cisse:
I'll be selfish over my future
By Ian Doyle - Daily Post
Djibril Cisse has spoken of the selfish streak he hopes can keep him
at Liverpool.
The French striker's Anfield future has been the subject of much
speculation this season, with the 24-year-old hinting he may even seek a
move away from the European Champions in the January transfer window.
That came during a spell in which Cisse found himself as a regular
substitute despite Liverpool's struggles in front of goal earlier in the
campaign, with the forward fearing his lack of first-team football could
cost him a place in France's World Cup squad next summer.
However, Cisse has been a more frequent starter in recent weeks and has
responded with a clutch of goals and is currently Liverpool's joint top
scorer for the season with 10.
And having netted in France's 3-2 friendly victory over Costa Rica on
Wednesday, Cisse reiterated his desire to remain at Liverpool.
"I don't want to quit Liverpool," said the striker. "I'm really pleased
to be here.
"I'm here for the next five years and if it's more, it's more. I'm
really happy to stay.
"I am happy with the number I've scored but I think I can reach 20
goals. It's my job to score.
"I have to score goals and, when I don't score a goal, I feel like I
have done only half a job.
"Maybe it's selfish but I think strikers have to be selfish and try to
score goals."
OCTOBER 13
Cisse confirms Reds
plan
By Mark Buckingham - Sky Sports
Djibril Cisse has set himself a two-month deadline to force his way
into the Liverpool team on a regular basis.
Cisse is currently unhappy with spending much of his time at Anfield on
the substitutes' bench or on the right wing.
The France international has already hinted that he will grudgingly
leave the European champions in the New Year to secure regular football.
Marseille are willing to sign the pacey attacker on loan for the second
half of the season as Cisse targets a place in France's World Cup squad.
He has reiterated he is prepared to be selfish to safeguard his
international aspirations and will make a decision by Christmas.
"I'll have to make a career decision if matters haven't changed by
December," said Cisse.
"With the World Cup just months away, I can't afford to be playing just
one game in three.
"This might sound selfish but my situation would be no different even if
Liverpool were getting good results while I was on the bench."
Cisse also admits he still has no plans to discuss his plight with
manager Rafa Benitez as he feels he has shown enough to be ahead of
Peter Crouch in the pecking order.
He added: "Benitez makes his decisions. He hasn't explained them to me
but I don't think I'll seek talks with him.
"I'm not somebody who asks the manager for an explanation when he is not
in the team.
"I thought the two goals I scored for Liverpool in the European Super
Cup final would make things easier for me.
"I thought I had earned some points but that has not been the case."
OCTOBER 11
Rafa warning to Cisse
By Chris Stanton - Sky Sports
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has launched a thinly veiled attack
on disgruntled striker Djibril Cisse.
Cisse revealed last week that he would look to leave Anfield in January
if he were not given more first team opportunities.
However, Benitez has insisted his French international must remain
patient and be prepared to perform to his best when called upon.
"I've spoken to all of the players, some who are used a lot and some who
are used differently," said Benitez.
"They all know there are a lot of games to play.
"At one point around Christmas, I expect to play about three games in
eight days. There is also the Champions League and Carling Cup to think
about.
"This is a big club, so every player here must be ready. Maybe you will
be used in a week, maybe it will be in three weeks.
"If a player isn't ready when he's needed it means he hasn't the
mentality and attitude for a big club."
Cisse has made just two first team starts for The Reds this season and
on his rare outings has been used in a wing role rather than as a
frontman.
The 23-year-old's uncertain future has alerted the likes of Marseille
with player and club sharing a mutual admiration.
OCTOBER 7
Cisse hits out
at Sky Sports
Kop Talk
Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse has hit out Sky Sports and a number
of British newspapers for trying to stir things up following comments he
recently made about his future.
The player looks nailed on to leave the club be it in January or next
summer; Rafa simply doesn't rate him, but he insists that while he is
considering his options, he'd rather remain a Liverpool player.
Cisse was quoted as saying: "When I'm lucky enough to start it's as a
right winger. It's not my position but I do it for the team. If things
don't sort themselves out by December I think I'll leave.
"I'd also like to go to Spain, but I think what I really want to do is
leave Liverpool. I'd be disappointed to leave Liverpool, I was beginning
to adapt but I have to think about my career as well.
"Six months before the World Cup I can't be playing just one out of two
or every three matches. It's a bit selfish, but I have to play.
"I will not go and demand talks. That's not in my character."
Shortly after those comments started to circulate, Cisse issued a
statement saying: "Following rumours in some of the English press, and
Sky Sports in particular, I want to emphasise that I love being in
England and at Liverpool – and I want to stay and fight for my place.
"During the press conference here (international duty) earlier in the
day I simply stated that if my situation with regard to playing for
Liverpool had not evolved by January 2006, then I would consider leaving
Liverpool for a club where I would be afforded more playing time with a
view to the 2006 World Cup."
OCTOBER 6
The mystery of Djibril Cisse
By Stephen Orford
When the French national team travel to Switzerland for a vital World
Cup qualifier this Saturday (October 8), the name of Djibril Cisse is
likely to be on the team sheet from the start.
Granted, this has much to do with the likely absences through injury of
Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet, but the fact remains that when it
comes to international football, Cisse is a man deemed good enough to
turn out for one of the best international teams in the world.
Contrast this with the situation at Liverpool Football Club this season.
As I write, Cisse is making noises in the press about the possibility of
leaving Anfield in the January transfer window, as his opportunities to
shine under Rafa Benitez get more and more restricted. The former
Auxerre man has started just two games in the Premiership this season,
with Benitez preferring to utilise the very well hidden talents of Peter
Crouch in the lone strikers role.
The whys and wherefores of whether Liverpool, among others, should stop
all this silliness and go back to playing two up front can be discussed
elsewhere. Even if we are to accept that Benitez is right to insist on
stacking his midfield instead, the relative performances of Crouch and
Cisse so far this season surely point to a desperate need for the
white-bearded one to be installed as the club’s first choice striker.
What was evident during Liverpool’s hopeless capitulation to Chelsea at
Anfield on Sunday (October 2) was that the attack has an almost terminal
lack of pace. For all his perceived abilities on the ball and his
obvious but slightly over-rated aerial threat, Crouch unfortunately has
all the pace of a tortoise carrying two large bags of cement. When times
are hard, which is often this season, Benitez counters this by throwing
on either Cisse or, more likely, the less explosive Florent Sinama
Pongolle on the right hand side of midfield.
Pace has not been wasted this badly since Ben Johnson took that
ill-fated decision to give himself an artificial lift before the 1998
Olympic 100metres final. What results is the farcical sight of either
Pongolle or Cisse taking over the role of lumping aimless diagonal balls
towards Crouch, giving nobody any real chance to show what talents they
do have. On the occasions when Cisse abandons that plan and takes
matters into his own hands, his thrusts down the right-wing are always
likely to provide an opportunity for a team-mate to score.
The one moment when Peter Crouch appeared remotely likely to score a
goal this season came at Birmingham City on September 24, just after
Cisse had broken free and produced a cross of unerring accuracy. Crouch
somehow headed wide, but the potential was there for a link up between
the two at the very least. Benitez thought not, and by the time the next
Premiership game came along, Cisse was back on the bench for that
disastrous defeat to Chelsea.
When he has played this season, Cisse has scored goals. Witness his
devastating cameo in the Super Cup final against CSKA Moscow on August
26. Trailing 1-0, Benitez tired of his lethargic attack, and threw on
the French star. Cisse proceeded to take over the game, scoring twice
and regularly terrifying everyone with his ability to tear into open
spaces at speeds that Han Solo would find it difficult to reach in the
Millennium Falcon.
It hadn’t looked like Cisse was going to be so woefully under-used in
pre-season. The Cisse-Crouch partnership was given a chance to shine,
and shine it did. Well, Cisse did, at any rate. He was a regular
goalscorer in the Reds’ extended Champions League qualifying campaign,
stretching as far back as the middle of July. In all, Cisse has started
only seven of the 15 games he has appeared in this season, and has
managed to find the net on seven occasions in all competitions.
You do the maths, but before you do, compare it with Crouch’s meagre
contribution of, well, no goals from eight starts. That run would
probably be even more unimpressive if a hamstring injury had not robbed
him of several more opportunities to fail to score.
It’s not all his fault, given the quite dreadful and clearly stereotyped
service he receives because of his height. Who knows, perhaps the
inclusion of Cisse alongside the former Southampton man would help him
find the form that earned him the move to Liverpool in the first place.
With the ever-willing Cisse to chase down the hopeful punts of the likes
of Riise, Hyypia, Carragher and company, maybe Crouch would start to
receive the ball in more promising positions.
The trouble is that Cisse’s willingness appears to be waning. It’s
difficult not to believe that there is a personal issue between he and
Benitez, especially given the recent emergence of Pongolle to a position
somewhere higher up the pecking order. Both were signed by previous
manager Gerard Houllier, and Benitez seems unwilling to rely on a man
inherited from a past regime. And so this plea is likely to fail, as the
stubborn nature of the Liverpool boss most likely leads to the exit of
the talented Cisse.
Speed to burn, an eye for a goal, the ability to drift out wide and
provide goals for others? It’s going too far to compare Cisse to Thierry
Henry, but France manager Raimond Domenech obviously feels that the 24
year-old is an adequate replacement.
The Swiss are about to find out just how adequate he is.
